The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-23


Skill of am Experienced Guide-Fall
Over IA Preeipice-An Almost Miraeu-
Ious Escape.
was informed that in some parts of the
pass there were masses of snow fourteen
and sixteen feet deep, and it would be all
but impossible to get through them As
1 persisted i'll my determination, however,
| at length succeeded in obtaining the serv-
ices of II sturdy peasant who knew every
inch of the rOJtee, and who was tempted by
the liberal fee | offered him We left
Bergun soon after IL with n well stocked
knapsack of provisions, including bottle
of old brandy. An hour later the sky had
clouded over, the sun had quite disap-
peared and little wreaths of pOwdery
snow filed the air.
As we approached the majestic and ter
rifle Teufelsthal the snow thickened and
fell in large, compact flakes, while the
gust of deadly wind came up with a roar
from the awful ravine where the Albula
thunders i'm its rocky bed 800 feet below
the roadway. The whole landscape was
obliterateI, and it Vas impossible to see
half dozen yards ahead The road itself
was entirely lost, but the guide, with I'M
erring instinct, traced the way, cleverly
avoiding the precipiceS and the drifts,
though now and again we found ourselves
struggling up to the waist i'll soft accu-
mutations ON the road itself. BY the time
we had painfully toiled up to the well
known stone bridge which spans the awful
ravine, the wind was blowing gale,
while the snow was binding. We came
within an ace of piunging down into the
rocky chasm; for the snow was level
with the parapet of the bridge, over
which it eurled in a great cornice.
PEI:ILoUs UNDERTAKING.
Here, for the first time perhaps, We
fully realized the hazardous nature of the
undertaking. But to turn back was out
of the question, as that would have been
even worse than going on. From the
bridge the road is carried over the face of
stupendous precipice, and thence de
bouches ON to an extensive plain. Before
opening upon the plain the detile is eX-
ceedngly narrow, and through this the
wind swept with such terrific force, and
was so charged with compact snow, that
six different times were we driven back
into the shelter OF the projecting rocks
| that broke the force of the cruel blasts.
AT length, taking advantage of n lull, We
forced the passage and gained the open.
/ confess that here i almost lost heart.
| The icy wind seemed To blow clean through
| one, and il stung the exposed parts of the
| face like whip cords All around appeared
| to be a solid wall of snow. The flakes
| We're as large as five shilling pieces, and
| almost blinded one. Conversation was out
| of the question, for il was was impossible
| to hear each other, while the eXertion re-
| quired to make progress at all was ex-
| ceedingly cxhausting.
| No one who hadn't been born among
these mountains and who had not spent a
/ lifetime in such desolate regions could
| possibly have found his way and must in
/ evitably have persisted But my guide,
/ with one or two exceptions, never once
| seemed to go astray. For myself, l fol-
| lowed I'm his tracks mechanically. l was
| numbed and drowsy, and he had the APP
/ pearance to ME of "a white specter only
dimly seen. Although by the hour there
/ should have been plenty of daylight, the
/ air was darkeneti by a thick snow, and
| began to very seriously doubt whether ii
| was at all possible to reach our destina-
ton. The guide had similar thoughts, for
/ soon after he stopped and shouted in my
/ ear that there was II shepherds hut some
| where about there, and il would be as
\ well To try and find il and shelter in 1t for
/ the night | readily acquiesced in this
| proposal. and We turned OFF at an angle
and forged ahead for about u quarter OF
| an hour, when, with startling suddenness,
| the guide disappeared-where l knew not
| / only knew that he had gone out of my
| vision, ami was left alone In that CHASTITY
| region of death, with tine appalling roai
| Of the wind and the river laundering in
| my ears